


Bound (Damage)

by blindtaleteller



Series: Platovember Prompts 2020 [15]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Humor, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Roller Coaster, Established Relationship, Gen, Imprisonment, Lokiverse - Freeform, M/M, Mixology (Lokiverse), Multi, Platovember, Platovember 2020, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:40:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27653567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blindtaleteller/pseuds/blindtaleteller
Summary: Loki (Lisan) makes a phone call home from the inside of a Wakandan interrogation chamber; and is confronted with Nick Fury's arrival, after: along with the much more personal consequences and price of stepping in and lending his blades and knowledge to end the fight with Thanos far sooner than the other universes in the Coven..
Relationships: Clint Barton/Laura Barton/Loki, platonic - Relationship
Series: Platovember Prompts 2020 [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1999015
Kudos: 2
Collections: Loki, Platonic Relationships, Prompted Writing





	Bound (Damage)

**Author's Note:**

> Lisan (Loki) from Universe/Door 12 (ASHES) is probably one of the more upbeat and interesting of the bunch to me, and his back story long before he ends up in Mare Nectaris chained to the throne is a huge part of that. Much of his background matches Laufeyson's, up to the point of the immediate aftermath of New York, which he escaped initially with both the Tesseract and the Scepter, eventually leaving the Scepter with Shield himself after the events of The Dark World briefly pulled him back to Asgard.
> 
> Lili gets it pretty hard as is, but mostly he would say by his own choice; and the worst is yet to come.
> 
> I marked what relationships and categories I did for the pre-existing relationships going on in this short between scene; and no other reason.  
> ENJOY!

  * IDENTIFY LOCATION: LISAN - DIMENSIONAL IDENTIFICATION CONFIMED : HVRA0616-9H-12
  * \---INTER-UNIVERSAL DOORWAY ENTRY POINT H12 : OBSERVATIONAL STATUS - TVA INTERFERENCE : _NOT DETECTED_
  * \----MIDGARD NORTHERN HEMISPHERE: WAKANDA : VISITATION CAUTIONS _ADVISED_ : HIGH-THREAT HOLDING FACILITY
  * \------KNOWN DOMESTIC TIME VARIANCE : 8:54 PM



** =-B O U N D-= **

" I already tried Dad though! " Cooper's voice groaned into Loki's ear through the receiver, the huff of a sigh that came right after it having Loki glancing at the mirrored glass they were likely watching him through, and back to the slips of paper he was sketching on while the eldest Barton boy went on in tones that made him want to smile, but words that made him want to get up and thump his fist on that glass and tell Clint to call their eldest already when he said " He hardly picks up the phone, and when he does; he basically zones out and says to _'ask your mother, Coop.'_ He's not listening at all. "

" ..well, I suppose he does have a lot on his plate at the moment. " was an understatement. And, a bad habit; making excuses for Clint even now: and he knew it. He tucked the phone to his other ear, the position getting awkward in the handcuffs, and yes; they were making it far more so than he thought they might. " She's not wrong though; you shouldn't have let Daveys drive. You know he hasn't even his _permit_ yet. You were lucky his father was the one who pulled you over, and not the Sheriff. "

" He needs practice though! "

" With a licensed driver, and with _permission at least_ from the car's _owner_ and you know it. " was his own dad tone snapping in. " You and I both had to go through the red tape of our own together with your father sitting in the middle, remember? " got him another sigh from the other end. " Best friend or not, trying to impress a girl or not Coop; Mitchell Daveys is no more exempt from the law than you or I are. " which was doubly difficult to say given where Loki was now. And especially why.

" I know.. I _know,_ Poppa. " was all exasperated teen wanting to escape the consequences of his actions anyway, but pulled at the edges of a small smile anyways. " It's still a long time not to drive, when we live out in the middle of a wheat field. Can you please, talk to Mom for me when you get home? " pulled it right back down though. He heard some small motion on the other side of the glass and rubbed at his eyes as he sat back. " I'm not sure when that will be; but: I'll try. "

" Promise? " got a short laugh at the plain ceiling and the fluorescent lights hanging from it. There weren't any real windows in the room, just cement, cinder block; and a whole lot of bunker grade steel lined with Vibranium. And he knew a good deal of technology between him and anything resembling even a sneaky exit on the other sides of all that. " I promise. How is she? And your sister? "

" Mom's all right; she sleeps a lot, and has actually gotten a little bigger. " Worried him none the less; had him shifting his legs out under the table. scratching over a few lines he'd already drawn. Making them darker. The second newest in their Coven, Gin; would have laughed at him for picking up that habit of his. Though he did wish he had studied the rest that went with it a little more to actually make it useful as he listened. Because as much as he knew he had to be; Lisan very much did not want to be there, a dozen feet from the cell they were keeping him in at current: or trying not to explain the severity of where he was and why he was being held to even his eldest step son on the other end of the line.

" The doctors say she's doing good though. It doesn't look like they're getting any bigger? " was a relief, at least. " They say they're going to be born any time now. " in the meantime, sent his heel jumping to a hop under the table; and had him folding his lips in over and in between his teeth before he forced himself to let them go and turn his head away from the one way mirror. " Auntie Nat got back yesterday to help out while you and Dad are still in Wakanda, too; so there'll be more than me to drive in case she goes into labor or something. Oh.. _ow! **Hey!**_ I was _getting_ to you, _stop_ it. " had what sounded like Laura calling after the likely pinch or slap Cooper had gotten from his younger sister as a reminder. " But yeah.. in case you couldn't _tell;_ Lila's right here, too. She's pretty much hopping in her seat waiting to talk to you. She got an A on her english project.. "

"Oh? Put her on then; before you end up with an inverted rib or something. " resulted in the immediately drawn back sound of Cooper doing just that. He heard " Imma invert _your_ rib, you squirt; if you don't stop poking me.. " before the brief struggle and another call out that likely came after they'd dropped the phone. The inevitable scrabbling to pick it up and the " NYAHH-UH! " that was half shouted into it as Lila pulled up the phone on her end had Loki smirking a bit. " No hitting your brother. "

" Not even with the nerf stuff? " didn't so much as miss a beat and pulled him back into another brief smile. " Not at close range, and no tender spots. You know what I mean, Lies. "

" I know! Did you hear though? I got an A! Miss Karter really liked the tree we built. She almost jumped out of her skin when I pulled the string and all the Sherlob _BURST_ out out of the web and jumped on the dwarves! " had Loki downright grinning at Lila's energy.

" Did you remember to show her the other side? " had been a serious concern though, after she'd almost broken the hatch covering the _'river'_ part until the second part of her planned presentation.

" You bet! I still wish we'd been able to find more dwarf figures to put in the barrels though. They all looked like the same one even with the paint. The only one that looks different is Bilbo. " which, they'd known when they'd finished; but Loki didn't think the eighth grade teacher really cared much about that. " And the report? " He heard a brief click on the line and ignored it. Either the people in the other room had just stopped listening to his family's daily-life update, which he doubted: or they had put it on speaker somewhere.

Clint wouldn't do that, he thought. But some of the others might. Especially Rogers, Stark or Thor. " It went good. I stumbled a little in the middle, but I remembered what you and mom said about not backtracking. Everybody liked it anyways. "

" Good. Also, did you help your brother and Mitchell escape the house when he took the truck? " cued a quiet he knew too well almost instantly; and shook his head at. Not that he thought that was all. " Cooper said he found the keys on the counter. You and I know better than that being likely. Spill, young lady. Your mother will definitely out you with the truth, if not. "

" Aw man. " was whined into his ear in a way that told him as usual, Lila was more annoyed that her brother had given her away than the fact she'd been caught. " Yes siiiir. "at teh long drawl for it still did make him chuckle.

" I thought so. " came with a long line drawn from one doodle to the next. " Did he even come inside? " and looping around it before he paused to hear the expected answer of " No. But Poppa! I don't think he knew Mitchell didn't have his permit! I didn't neither. "

" Either.. "

" I didn't either; cause he'd been bragging that he had it when he was on the bus home last week, and waving around a piece of paper and everything. "

"Ah, I see. So Cooper's covering for young Mister Daveys, is he. " got a sigh and a soft mmhm and " I think so, yeah. Mitch's mom is already mad at him for the cow thing last week. He wasn't even supposed to be ungrounded until tomorrow. "

" I see. " was half a sigh and half a chuckle, laying his other arm over his stomach as he moved the paper to his knee and kept drawing. " Is your Mum awake? Or was that Auntie Nat I heard earlier? "

Some sound, motion mostly; " That was auntie Nat. They're on the porch.. lemme see Poppa. " and he knew she was taking the cell with her as the sounds shifted; through the living room and around Nate's toys where they were probably still scattered across the floor at this hour, out the screen door --he heard the squeak he hadn't been able to oil out and Clint had been procrastinating on himself over expanding the end of his and Laura's study for a window box on that east side-- and out onto the thin new set of paneling they'd just finished making into a proper veranda from his mother's _'lemonade sipping stand'_ as Barton had called it.

He heard the voices, muffled like she had put the phone to her chest; and the low hum in Laura's in particular telling him how tired she was, and the hushed shortness of it telling him that either Natasha or maybe even Clint himself had filled her in at least, if enough to be drug down by it. Cut him a little more, hearing it. Weighed down his joints, wondering how it had been said, or was being said. He only knew what he saw in the holding facility, for now; which wasn't much even for a prisoner as he was kept separate and isolated from the rest. Probably because they didn't know what to do with him, or make of him at all at the moment.

Not that he blamed many of them for that. This.. all of this, had been part of the risk of leaving home to head straight to New York when the satellites had gone off and warned him several somethings had been incoming from outside the system. " She says she's not feeling good and is gonna take a nap. Do you wanna talk to auntie Nat? " pulled on his breath but was expected, to some extent. " Yes please, little Lies. Love you. Take your grounding well. "

" Okay! Love you smores! " was almost the end of him before he heard the phone passed over, for too many reasons. Loki missed his kids. The ones he'd helped raise since he'd hunted the house down after his first horrid excursion to New York, and the ones; well. The ones he might not even get to see born, at this rate.

He knew she was waiting and making space to get away from the family. " Hi. " Was short enough Loki wanted to think she wasn't: but he did wonder anyway if Laura was with her; if she was listening. If she'd been just avoiding talking to him right away being told who he was and where he'd gone for Clint to chase him across the continent and straight into a second invasion, and maybe possibly the _little_ hope at least of her being told what he'd done for his part of _that one._

"Hi. " and "How is she really? " had been pretty much gnawing at him the whole call, and needing that answer made him abandon the paper and pencil to the tabletop, and lean over it on his forearms with his cuffed hands used as a prop for his head where the phone connected. And _huh,_ if that wasn't a slightly more comfortable position with the handcuffs. Go figure, as Clint would have said. It took Nat a deep breath in to probably calm her tone; not that it did much for the chill or the clip in it. " She's good. Probably going to need a C section; but considering she's carrying _half-breed **frost giants**_ \-- "

" **Jotun.** " cut clear from his end of the line, and hard. He calmed it a bit, but the bite was still there. " Our race, are called _Jotun._ I haven't a care what you call _me_ **_Natalia._** But _do not_ start insulting my hybrid children before they're even born to defend themselves with that tone. At the very least you could let them learn a few words of their own besides those, as well; if only for the fact they're Laura's as much as mine. " a long breath in through his nose that, Loki knew she could hear over the line and he asked. " Have they confirmed twins or triplets yet? " Because that had been an issue. Their dense structure and the way they had curled in on each other had made it a little difficult to tell for certain whether the third had made it through the whole of her difficult pregnancy, just as a start.

" Two. " was breathed back at him, and " As far as they can tell. They're still guarding what's in the middle like two halves of a vending machine bubble, if you _must_ know. " had him working his jaw briefly. Because the combined statements were fairly telling where Natasha stood over all. And held his tongue still for a few long seconds; maybe even a minute before the question broke loose and he had to ask. " ..does Laura share that sentiment of yours, then? "

He got no reply. not a long wait or a few seconds of silence: just the quiet beep of the line disconnecting.

Just like that; _call over._

He didn't give his watchers the benefit of seeing him stay in that position; setting the phone face down on the table again and waiting for them to come and collect it, and him. He expected Rogers, when he heard the first turns of the latch; but not T'Challa when he took the wall farthest from him on the other side of the table. And certainly not Fury and Hill. The one with the familiar one-eyed glare was actually sitting down; while Loki was looking to the still open door and yes: " I'd ask if you had a good talk, but I don't think I need to tell you we were listening. " expecting a Clint that didn't even show in the doorway though he knew, sensed he was right outside it as Fury was pulling the slip of paper towards him to glance over his doodles and few blocked out words where he'd been etching them into the simple white copy-grade eight by eleven.

" Mm. I was after all informed of as much before it was handed over, yes. "

" You wanna call her back? Tell her about the kids fibbing to their mom? " brought his eyes back to Fury for a few moments after crossing impassively over the Wakandan King again. He didn't look the kind of uncomfortable Loki thought he might be. It was more the same kind Steve was sporting: the kind that didn't know what to make of a man who fought to take a City with an army of aliens one day, and years later after he'd gotten away from them with the Tesseract in hand to parts supposedly unknown? Had popped up fighting to minimize the damage and literally slice the head off of one of those leading the army that had been invading the second time around, and use the same stone he'd walked away with to effectively cut the other in half by transporting only one half of him some twenty feet away. That they had been leading the same, armies; incidentally: probably threw them all the more.

" Clint should call her. And, Coop. And Mitchell's mother, actually. Especially if that boy gets it in his head to try again just because he's gotten off almost scott free, as is his habit. "

" That the point here, by the way? " had Loki tipping his head back for what felt like the hundredth time and almost growling a sigh at the ceiling.

" I have explained this.. dozens, of times; since my surrender. Must we, go over it yet again? " was given no air before the answer of " Pretty much, yeah. " and followed up with the usual from a different and particular mouth he didn't like hearing running to begin with. " You disappear for six years, with the Tesseract. No sign, no word, no whisper; of an indication any a this was a thing. "

" Bullshit. " from Loki at the ceiling at a lower sigh and a nearly glazed over stare there letting his hair slip when he felt it fall half out of the loop to a true ponytail over the back of his chair; didn't stop Fury, but it did pause him. " Show up; just in time to jump into a fight with the driver of the big metal donut your boss' _other_ cronies-- " also got interrupted with a droll " _Also;_ not his cronie, _or_ his servant, or his bloody _dog..._ " between and half over the rest of Fury's words. " --who you mow down pretty quick, I'll give you that; then! You talk the wizard into scooting you to Ireland. Where, " and again, Loki brought his head up for that one. " I didn't talk him into it or ask for the ride. He opened the portal after I told him where the other ship went -- "

" **WHERE;** you yes, _assisted_ Stark, Rogers here and the rest in kicking the other two temporarily to the curb _when_ you got there! _But --_ " and he was raising his voice already. Which was enough for Loki to slam both hands on the tabletop and bend it at a sharp angle enough to force the legs out a little to either side and get his attention, and finish for him. " -- when he proved persistent in refusing me a sling ring of my own: so I followed, because it's faster. From there to here, since some smart ass, thought it was a wonderful idea; to put the one stone I traded you the one I kept, in the hands of a _millenia plus old_ castaway-demigod _cult **you** failed_ to wipe out a century ago: and _then_ stuck into the head of a very nice artificial being by the way --I do, like him; he's _incredibly_ polite, _at least_ \-- to the ridiculous extent of having it _all but fused_ to his damned being. " and yes that did still annoy him, if only for the facts that remained about it. " _Brilliant_ work, but also _incredibly dumb_ to wait _this_ long to even _think_ of taking out after you knew what it was. "

He saw Steve looking to the window, the purse of his lips telling him that one or both of Vision's creators were behind the glass, and possibly the android himself. " Which leads us to the plains outside where _we_ fought and _people died,_ and your _ridiculous shiny head_ was **_no where_** to be seen; while we were _literally_ smashing the remaining bits of an _interstellar army_ on Earth, _again!_ _Without **you.**_ And oh but you are _damned **right**_ I shoved my knife in _seven different places_ to end his breathing myself where he decided to show up at last and make a grab for it; **_after,_** my **_idiot_ **of an adopted brother: aimed for _neither_ of his eye sockets **_OR_** the tendons I bloody well was _very,_ happy to sever at the shoulder _whilst_ he was too busy worrying about the axe in his chest and: _hoping_ to go home? Only to have that _traitorous liar's_ golden child of a _himbo_ backhand me with the flat end of the damned thing _as soon_ as he had it clear of the new corpse's ribcage as thanks. Followed by _this_ room; and a cell _the ducks at home_ have a larger coop than, in Missouri! " deep breath, _lonnng_ growly sigh out. " _Yes!_ That _was_ a thing! **So!** Where the _fucking **Hel**_ were _**you,**_ and that last damnable carrier between three continents when we fucking _needed_ them, eh?! "

Quiet, and Steven shifting on his feet brows up behind a seething but stunned Fury, while Hill was .. trying not stare at the V-shaped indention Loki had left in the table, before she almost tentatively reached with two fingers to pull her laptop closer to it's edge. Only to have it slide back down towards the middle. The stupid scarping sound touched a thread in his temper, he could admit that. He lifted a knee and sent the whole thing smashing to his right too fast for any of them to do much more than jump, and too slow to do anything about the strip he peeled off the leg to pry the cuffs open and toss those out the door so he could cross his arms over his chest after tossing the shiv right into the mirrored window at a sticking loud **_THACK!_** that spider-webbed the thick material from it's point of impalement, but held otherwise.

He crossed a knee over the other as he watched the fact and more registered that yes; he could have broken them at any time. And yes, he could have put the thin, sturdy piece of steel he'd just ripped off like a shred of paper that the crotchety one eyed man was staring at in the seconds after: into Fury's other eye. Or anyone else's. If not used it on multiple targets in the room. T'Challa had moved: but he hadn't been fast enough on his reaction to get more than a step before it was over. And that registered too. " I _dislike_ those things; _would rather_ you didn't bother keeping up the pretenses of a mirror either: " was driven right into his eye when he did look back to Loki's face. " and am _fairly certain_ I've earned my right to go back home and _at least_ see my _first and only blooded children_ in the universe _born,_ after ending _what you couldn't even be bothered to be **present** for,_ **at** that end. " another breath, and he adjusted his grip on his arms. " _He's_ done, and dead; and will be: _no more._ "

And another, agitation spilled and simmering down to a mild annoyance. " **_I'm_** _done,_ now that I've had _the pleasant little **joy**_ of seeing his heart stop beating myself; and _you,_ owe me at least that little payment _for_ it. "

And there, Loki let it rest; waiting, not surprised when the rush of boots on hallway tile was stopped a few yards short of coming in. What were they going to do; put him in another set of bullshit handcuffs when he'd just pried one set off between his bare arm and a bit of laced if still shitty steel? Tug him off, when Fury was clearly too blown by the fact he could have at least tried, at _something_ more long before they had even gotten into the hall, never mind near the open door. No one seemed to know what to say though, as the realization he wasn't going to do anything else did settle in, and they relaxed. He couldn't help but roll his eyes the full circuit of the room and rub his eyes again before asking at an exasperated and flat tone " Have I missed anything, Rogers. "

" Pretty much the whole part where you started calling this home, and made children in the first place.. " brought his blue eyes out from behind the wipe downwards the fold of his palm made to look at the now bearded blond. " ..but, otherwise; no. "

" Did you .. call Thor, a himbo? " from T'Challa; even with the twitch of a smile behind it at this juncture; and the bark of laughter he knew was Tony's tones from the other side of the cracked glass just had him pressing his jaw into his hand and screaming into it for a two count of absolute frustration before he pointed a finger at the glass and asked very calmly. " ...can't even _one_ of the more capable brains on the premises, at least try to patch up this ludicrous attempt at an interrogation, at this point? I have explained this.. thirty seven times. I am; very sorry: that none of your interrogators are capable of cognitive reasoning past tapping a pen on the paper, and pretending to take notes as though I do not know how to write letters on it myself to know the difference, but. " got another higher pitch rolling from Anthony on the other side. " That is not my fault. And, they're bloody boring. "

" Come on! I wanna now! " from the same space was met with a sigh from Fury as he stood up. " ...or at least give 'im a pop culture quiz, 'cause sounds like his time in the midwest has him passing Steve at this point, and I am **_so_ **curious. "

And fuck it, most of them weren't even listening, or if they were, they weren't hearing him anyways. " Living with and raising two teenagers _will_ do that. "

" Favorite Disney movie? " made his mouth gap for a moment; because: and Fury's face when he got into the hall staring was a lot sterner version of the 'we are doing this now' thought that crossed Loki's mind.

" _**Moana.**_ Hei Hei is _fucking **life,**_ and you can _fight me on it,_ if you plan to say otherwise. " gave Loki at least the satisfaction of watching Fury yank his head back in his direction in the god of Mischief's peripherals as he got comfortable as he could in that awful chair while Stark tittered out another pitched laugh.

For just a moment, he saw a part of Clint's face in his peripherals; staring at him. It was enough to strip what little humor Loki could feel trying, right out of him again and yank it down low. Because he didn't try to stay in sight, never mind come in. Because he still hadn't spoken to him at all; not since he'd come in that once just to ask him if the last six years of their life had been real. Which had been hard enough to hear, never mind actually been expected to answer: especially coming from his own husband. Even if, he'd all but lied to him for most of it. But, he had the message.

And, he earned the result; karma being what it was. Especially after how he himself had left Asgard, and the new-again stabbing reasons why.

" It's not my call, end of the day. We'll see. " Fury, again; and he could hear Clint walking away. Another answer, one that pursed Loki's lips.

_He'd picked the world they lived on, and finishing what he'd started; over tucking close to their wife and not pitching in again at all._

" I do not like what he's done in the past, but now? _This_ time? This man fought bravely. " from T'challa, and earnest. Surprising, a little. " He has, in my eyes at least; redeemed some portion of his debts. "

_He'd picked the possibility of this cell, and this fight in the end; over throwing the dice by staying home: and staying Lau, rather than Loki._

_The message was, very clear, from Clint._

_Loki couldn't have both.  
_

_He wasn't wanted any more._

_The damage was done._


End file.
